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It’s Tuesday, November 11. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Jed Rubenfeld on the future of same-sex marriage in the Supreme Court. One Marine’s meditation on the poem that brought him comfort during wartime. John Fetterman joins Bari on Honestly. And more.
But first: How Trump cashed in on crypto.
It was President Donald Trump’s pardon of Changpeng Zhao on October 23 that initially caught my attention. Like many people, I had become inured to the president’s various moneymaking schemes. When Trump—and First Lady Melania—both issued speculative meme coins just before the inauguration, I rolled my eyes. They didn’t seem like anything more than catnip for the MAGA suckers.
But after Trump pardoned CZ, as he is known—a crypto billionaire whose company paid $4.3 billion for allowing money laundering and terrorist financing to take place on its platform—I decided to take a closer look at the crypto deals cut by companies largely owned by Trump and his sons. In the span of 10 months, those deals have taken the president’s net worth from $4.3 billion to $7.3 billion, according to Forbes. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump family’s wealth rose by $5 billion—in a single day.
There has never been anything like this in the history of the American presidency. What makes it more astonishing is that many of the people and institutions that helped Trump and his family make those staggering gains all wanted something from the president. And some of them got what they wanted.
My story takes a close look at three such instances—and asks whether it is appropriate for a president to cash in while he runs the country. The White House told me what it has told other reporters who have written about the Trump family’s crypto gains: There is no conflict of interest, and the media’s continued attention on the crypto deals is “irresponsible” and reinforces “the public’s distrust in what they read.”
But one critic of what Trump is doing told me that he is “off the charts in terms of using his office to make money. It is not only scandalous but a violation of the public trust.” Read my story and judge for yourself.
—Joe Nocera
Estrogen is the latest hot-button issue on the desk of Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—but not for the reason you might think. After decades of fear and caution in the medical establishment, the Food and Drug Administration announced yesterday that it would begin removing black-box warnings on products containing the hormone. The move comes as a growing group of doctors say estrogen is a longevity hack. Jennifer Block reports on the physicians, pharmaceutical companies, and social media influencers waging America’s “estrogen wars”—and the women who are caught in the crossfire.
SNAP benefits and fully staffed air-traffic control might soon be back as the longest U.S. government shutdown in history heads toward an end this week. So who came out on top? According to Charles Lane, Democrats miscalculated and held out for weeks, only to receive a “nothingburger” for their troubles. In his latest column, Chuck breaks down the concessions both parties made to reopen the government—and explains why the next shutdown could come sooner than you think.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court refused to take up a challenge to the legality of same-sex marriage. So is gay marriage safe? The short answer is yes, writes Jed Rubenfeld, at least for now. However, he notes, it’s very likely that at least a majority of the justices “think Obergefell was wrongly decided.” In his latest column, Jed reads the tea leaves of Obergefell’s murky legal future—and whether or not the court’s six conservative justices will choose precedent or principle when the time comes.
Two top BBC executives resigned on Sunday after a bombshell report accused the publicly funded British broadcaster of fraudulently editing clips of Donald Trump addressing a crowd before the January 6, 2021 riot. But that’s not all, writes British journalist Melanie Phillips. The report also highlighted “a unit of rogue LGBT+ reporters” who censored coverage of trans issues and a bias in Middle East coverage that appeared to “minimize Israeli suffering and paint Israel as the aggressor.” Read Melanie on why she thinks it’s time to defund the BBC.
What draws tens of thousands of young Americans into the armed forces each year? Maybe, as Yeats wrote, it’s that “lonely impulse of delight.” This Veterans Day, read Marine Phil Klay on the poem that steadied him through the fear, boredom, and beauty of war—and helped him confront the unimaginable prospect of his own death.
Spiral Episode 5: A Beautiful but Imperfect System
Samantha Woll—the beloved president of the last remaining synagogue in downtown Detroit—is murdered outside her home. Police arrest a prime suspect, and the prosecution believes their case is airtight. But when a hung jury won’t convict him, Samantha’s family battles a legal technicality that could let the suspect walk free. Don’t miss the shocking conclusion of Spiral, a new podcast from The Free Press. And catch up on the previous episodes wherever you get your podcasts.
Is There Still Room for John Fetterman in Today’s Democratic Party?
As Democrats rally behind Zohran Mamdani’s ascendant left-wing vision, Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania is staking out the opposite case—saying socialism isn’t the future of his party and taking heat for it. Today, he joins Bari on Honestly to discuss the government shutdown, Trump’s ICE raids, Israel, online extremism, and how a battle with depression nearly brought him to the brink.
And ICYMI, read Senator Fetterman’s bracingly honest account of the day his heart stopped, and the personal and political turmoil that followed.
President Trump pardoned dozens of allies who had been accused of helping attempt to overturn the 2020 election, including lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former chief of staff Mark Meadows. “Getting prosecuted for challenging results is something that happens in communist Venezuela, not the United States of America, and President Trump is putting an end to the Biden regime’s communist tactics once and for all,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa met with President Trump at the White House. The visit marks the first official trip from a Syrian leader to Washington, and a redemption opportunity for al-Sharaa, who the U.S. had previously designated as a terrorist.
Vermont senator Bernie Sanders announced his endorsement of Minnesota Democrat Peggy Flanagan for the Senate. It is Sanders’ latest effort to push the party further left. “I think the future rests with those of us who are going to stand with the working class, take on the oligarchs, take on massive levels of income and wealth inequality, and come up with an agenda and improve lives for ordinary people,” Sanders said before his endorsement.
The U.S. military conducted two more strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats, killing six people. Sunday’s attacks, announced Monday by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, brings the death toll to 76 from 19 attacks in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea since September.
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was released from prison after serving only three weeks of his five-year sentence. Sarkozy was convicted of conspiring to seek campaign funds from former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, was sentenced in September, and is now free pending his appeal trial.
Right-wing German influencer Naomi Seibt has applied for political asylum in the U.S. Seibt, 25, an outspoken supporter of the AfD party, alleges that German intelligence is tracking her movements.
A new Gallup poll shows nearly five-decade lows in trust in government among the American public. Only 32 percent of U.S. adults reported having a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the legislative branch, compared with 41 percent for the executive branch and 49 percent for the judicial branch.
Cleveland Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz appeared in court Monday but said nothing about the bribery indictment unsealed Sunday against him and teammate Emmanuel Clase. The charges include allegedly throwing balls into the dirt to help gamblers win bets—and are the latest in a slew of betting scandals plaguing professional sports.
Nothing about the slew of Russiagate subpoenas? Of course not, it’s TFP, not a real news source.
Is that a giant fucking ad for Instagram at the top of this article? Listen, I already know tFP is a propaganda outlet for a foreign country, with a few moderate opinion pieces sprinkled in, but now I'm paying for Meta ads? What the actual fuck.